Don't panic

The "How to survive Rita" manual should come with the above warning (made popular by Douglas Adams) printed in bold letters across the cover.

Residents of this (truly) sleepy town are looking for safer, stronger buildings willing to house them for the night. Ironically, I can think of only one building that has all the qualities I would look for in a refuge. And I just left it back home in Houston.

All in all, I am very happy that I made it here in time. The last place anyone would want to be when Rita arrives, is a freeway with bumper to bumper traffic. Unfortunately a lot of people are going to find themselves in exactly that situation. If only they saw the danger lying in wait for them.

The reason I left that safe, comfortable apartment back in Houston was that everybody was making it really easy for me to do so. The freeways were still allowing cars to move more than an inch a minute. Schools and offices were shutting down. Program directors at Baylor were narrating their near-death experiences trying to nail down the roof of a neighbour's house at the precise moment that Allison hit Houston. And I had an opportunity for a comfortable journey over with an interesting friend. I would have been stupid to not pack my bags and leave.

However, I think I would have made it just fine back in Houston. Life would have thrived, albeit not without a little inconvenience.

Still waiting...

For the last two days, all I've been hearing about is Rita. predictions of rain, winds and even hail showers. I look around and see nothing but people dehydrating in hot Texas, sparse vegetation, almost burnt to a crisp and an unfirgivingly cloudless, scorching sky. The idea of a storm of great fury arriving here in the next 24 hours seems completely preposterous. Lying in wait for it, stocking up on every concievable commodity even more so.

If Rita was somewhere in the Indian ocean, stealthily advancing on the western coast of India, nobody would have a clue about it's sinister plan. Not until 5 seconds after it hits the coast. Would Bombay-ites be better prepared if they had a warning? Would they have their local radio channels blaring out possible evacuation routes and lists of items you need to stock up on in case of a week-long black-out? Would the police be on their guard and the traffic choppers working extra hours? Would the red cross organise shelters for the homeless and poor, distributing bottled evian water and baby diapers? Would the citizens buy flood-safe cages for their pet poodles?

On the other hand, when Rita strikes tomorrow, will Texans brave the storm outisde looking for people unable to reach their homes? Would they fight for the last drop of gas available at the gas station, or would they offer rides to people stranded away from home? Would they waste hundreds of dollars on stuff they dont need while also complaining that the local grocery store ran out of your favourite brand of cereal bars (because cars dont have bowl-holders) just when u need it the most? Would they imagine that the tap water is contaminated, and die of thirst amidst all the flash floods? Would they complain about the sweltering heat and the lack of air-conditioning when the lights go out to prevent electrocution?

We'll just have to wait and see...

Safe from harm

Haven't really been updating this blog much, so dont expect people to read. However, I feel like screaming out to everyone about my safety. I am very proud of my decision to leave yesterday when the freeways were relatively free of jams. It took me 6 hrs to reach college station, just over an hour away in normal circumstances. A very sweet friend from Baylor gave me a ride and my journey was as comfortable as it could have been. The students who stayed back, thinking they could leave today in the morning are having a tough time finding a shelter from the hurricane. It is now too late to leave.

At best, a hurricane can be an unpleasant experience. It can be fatal to stay back too. I just had to leave. On top of it all, my profs at Baylor have made it absolutely easy for students to leave without worrying about exams originally scheduled for Friday the 23rd and Wednesday the 28th. Now, I dont have to return until the 10th of October, since holidays were supposed to follow the exam on wednesday anyway!!

My friend Anupama is one of those students who are staying back. She has a lot of students to give her company, and they are trying to get the authorities to permit them to spend the weekend at Baylor. Big ugly yellow flood gates are up all around Baylor. They should protect the underground mouse facility this time. In 2001, Allison (just a tropical storm) had completely flooded the underground mouse facility, completely destroying entire careers' worth of mice!! I empathise with the Baylor faculty and completely support their move of setting up those very expensive floodgates only on the mouse facility. I can't imagine what I would do if I spend 5 years making a transgenic mouse and it drowns in a freak flood. I'd probably quit grad school, find a job and start earning a real living .. but that's just me....